


Catch

by graestu



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graestu/pseuds/graestu
Summary: The Doctor takes Graham, Yaz and Ryan to an alien planet without telling them why.
Kudos: 14





	Catch

Graham stepped out of the TARDIS, and peering through the darkness, said, "Correct me if I'm wrong - futuristic city."

Yaz and Ryan followed, amused by this knowingly unnecessary remark.

They had arrived under a web of monorail tracks that twisted through the black sky between spiral skyscrapers.

Nothing stirred in the silence.

Only a few lights indicated any signs of life.

"I can correct you," said The Doctor. "On a couple of counts."

She looked questioningly at Yaz and Ryan, expecting them to as well.

"But I only said two words! And it's definitely a city! Deserted or not."

"Ah!" said Yaz. "But it's not futuristic to the people who live here!"

"And I bet we're a long time ago. If you get what I mean," guessed Ryan.

"We are," smiled The Doctor. "Thousands of years before you were born. This way! Hurry!"

She was carrying a rolled up net, and divining the way with her sonic screwdriver, which seemed to be pulling her along the street.

"So who are the people who live here?" asked Yaz, as they all jogged along.

The Doctor paused for a moment.

"Hmmm... How best to describe them?... A bit like... A cross between... a gorilla... and... a budgie."

Then she was off again, as if dragged by an excitable puppy.

"That sounds like one of yours," Ryan told Graham. " 'What do you get if you cross a gorilla with a budgie?' "

"I've not heard that one," admitted Yaz. "A cute little bird with black fur?" She was so pleased to solve it. "Is that it?"

"No! It damn well isn't!" raged Graham in a panic. "It's a ten foot, flying monster with blue feathers that rips your head off, then squawks ' _Who's a clever boy, then?_ ' down your neck hole!"

"Ha!" laughed The Doctor. "All the best jokes are based on the truth!"

As that horror sank in, Graham, Yaz and Ryan suddenly feared they had been brought here to catch one!

"They don't come out at night," The Doctor reassured them. Then, as the sonic screwdriver's bleeping and flashing lights synchronised, added, "This is the place. Take a corner, everyone. Any minute now."

They each held a corner of the fine mesh net, and moved apart to stretch it between them.

"Last time you lot had a weekend in Sheffield, I went off on an adventure of my own," The Doctor explained at last. "I was running through a frozen jungle carrying a bottle of toxic waste - enough radioactive smoke to wipe out a whole planet. There was this hoverbike-riding hooded pirate after me, with the idea I was about to release it. So he shot it with a Temporal Displacement Weapon - "

"Like the Rosa Parks guy!" remembered Ryan.

" - Exactly. My sonic traced its destination to here." She pointed to just above the net. "We must stop it falling and breaking."

"About the size of a milk bottle?" said Graham. "Glowing orangey pink?"

"That's the chappie," replied The Doctor, concentrating.

"One's appearing behind you," said Graham.

They scrambled to reposition the net below the spinning bottle, as it floated in the air, gradually becoming solid.

When it had fully materialised, it dropped safely into the net, and The Doctor quickly gathered it in.

" ' _Job Done_ ' sticker, anyone?" she said with a relieved grin. "Not too far out, was I?"

She checked the direction of the TARDIS.

"Come on," she said, urgently striding away.

Not moving, and feeling a bit let down, Yaz asked, "Is that it? Aren't we going to stay for a look around, as we're here?"

"Yes, Doc," said Graham, a bit louder. "You said the monsters don't come out at night!"

"You did!" shouted Ryan, adding another vote to stay.

"True!" The Doctor called back, without stopping or turning around. "But I din't say what does come out at night that scares them!"

It didn't take long for Graham, Yaz and Ryan to catch up.


End file.
